Radiance Academy
by crestofawesome165
Summary: In secret exists a different society, capable of both miracles and calamities. To train youths who are lost and afraid of themselves, five schools were established in the five nations that unknowingly gave them birth. Tai is about to discover how even secrets are someone's enemy...
1. Chapter 1

**Radiance Academy**

**Class One**

xxx

_In times of strife, there is pain and suffering._

_Belligerent nations vie for the resources of another, intending and inflicting much anguish and bereavement. As kingdoms fell and governments rose from their ashes, this cycle of hatred has ever endured, peace of mind and mutual understanding a thing of fantasy._

_Humans are based upon many flaws, innumerable in their total but overshadowed by one._

_Greed._

_Greed for wealth and the lusting after another's earned possessions, be they monetary or sentimental, is part of the human condition, what it is to be human._

_Humans have these many faces, but little do they know of their kindred spirits in oppression, the members of an organisation known as 'Junta', dedicated to supremacy through aggression._

_This organisation is comprised of humans, but not those known to all. These humans have radical abilities of lost origin, gained not through genetics but at birth. This rite or 'gift' as their community call it is a recent marvel of the world we profess knowledge of but in truth know little about._

_The marvel of the 20__th__ century began as a secret, but now the secret has grown huge and the community is numbering in the thousands across the globe. With such dangerous elements to the secrecy and safety of the society of shadows, they were brought together into institutions around the world, located in the five nations of Britain, America, Russia, Germany and Japan._

_This agreement was brought about by the great conflict of the five that almost shattered the world itself. While the end of World War II saw trials and tribulations for all, the community within the five's shadows all vowed to hold to the secret._

_This vow saw the signing of the Treaty of Terra, an old name of the Earth. With this treaty, the thousands now live in shadow, watching the tremulous peace of man while their own numbers rise daily._

_This is the story of Japan's Radiance Academy and the darkest threat to peace never to be known._

xxx

'Tai?'

He groaned in the dark, refusing to leave his bed.

'Tai?'

His mother's voice was grating, and it was getting more dangerous the longer she was kept waiting, but he held to his silence as long as he could.

'Tai!'

Before he knew it, he was pulled onto the floor, his head hitting the ground with some force. Sitting up, his eyes were slow to adjust to the light coming through his window.

'Get ready, would you?' his mother snapped, the strong scent of bacon wafting into his room from the kitchen. 'You'll be late for school.'

'But mom… its Saturday…'

'No ifs, whys or buts,' his mother threw his school uniform at him. 'You have one minute before I come back – with a frying pan. Do you understand?'

He dismissively grunted before she left him to change. Once he was, he wondered if he could slip back into his bed until he really needed to go. He had thirty minutes according to his digital clock. It was ridiculous, but his sleep-in day was being interrupted.

So he'd scored a D or two in his English class. He didn't want to go to England or America anyway. Japanese was as good a language as any. His mom didn't have to actually lock him out of the house so he'd have to go to a remedial class. His dad was always gone early in the morning, and since Tai slept in, he rarely saw him if at all.

But when he'd reached the door and looked into the kitchen, he was sitting there with his eyes on the newspaper.

'D-dad?' Tai blurted, approaching what he thought was a phantom. 'Why're you here? Don't you have work?'

'They owe me a lot a days off,' he said, smiling at his son. 'That and your mom's been wanting us to go see Kari this weekend at her boarding school. Haven't seen her in a year so it's about that time. We're not hurting for money anymore so my weekends are my own.'

'_I've not seen her either_,' Tai thought of saying out loud, but he thought better of it. 'Really? Put in a good word for me – she sent me an email saying that the teddy bear I sent for her birthday was meant for a lover. She's being a big whiner about it.'

His father folded the newspaper, an inquisitive eyebrow lifting.

'It was a bear holding a heart saying 'I LOVE YOU',' Tai argued, not appreciating the look. 'I thought it was the _bear_ saying it, not _me_!'

'Son…' his dad held a hand over his eyes, but he was chuckling all the same, 'Kari's sensitive to those things. Women are strange like that. They're hard to understand when they get older.'

The pair of them felt a shiver, Tai looking over to his mother and feeling a deadly intent as she pressed a fork to the sizzling bacon to make it squeal.

'N-not you dear… never you… you're simple…'

Another squeal from the bacon sounded. Tai cringed at the thought of eating it burnt.

'I-I… I mean… Tai, wanna help out?'

'Nah, I've got school,' Tai said, desperately making a break for the door and leaving his father to his fate. He didn't hesitate in putting his shoes on and grabbing the bag resting by the door, turning only to shout, 'Tell Kari I'm sorry, mom!'

And with that, he closed the door behind him, a sense of doom following him even as he made it down to the streets filled with Odaiba's multitude of students, all in different uniforms of different schools of different ages.

Jittery and alive, many conversations came to Tai's ears at all the crossings he came to. Some were of plans for that evening, some were for club activities (the reason why most were even going to school) and others were about love lives Tai gave little attention to.

Instead, he delved into his memory and walked blankly, recalling his childhood of summer camps and soccer with his friends and his walks to school with Kari. He was sixteen now, so Kari would be twelve going on thirteen, but to him it was still fresh in his memory. Her small figure, her radiant smile and her innocent demeanour were still clear to him, years later. She was something he'd always felt obligated to protect, though he doubted she saw him as much of a shield now.

He stopped in the middle of the residential area pathway that led to his school and stared up at the sky, only one other student of his school passing him.

He wondered how it had happened so suddenly. One day he'd come home from school to find Kari bawling on the couch, their mom and dad beside her. They'd told him that she'd been crying for him for an hour since a 'scuffle' at the school where two bullies thought that Kari was the weak kid.

Funny. At least until she collapsed.

Kari Kamiya had been born weaker than most people. If it was haemophilia or some problem with her constitution no doctor had ever been able to agree on, but because of it Tai watched her, closely.

But the one time he hadn't been there, she had suffered. It ate him up inside, because despite his parents saying it wasn't he felt it was his fault. He was sloppy and dropped his guard and because of that his sister had a panic attack, one that kept her in her room for two days.

The bullies were known but nothing was really done to them, which had infuriated Tai since he couldn't touch them and give them the beating they deserved. Age in his mind was never an excuse for stupidity, but law and morals got in the way of justice.

Because they weren't expelled, his sister had been packed away to a boarding school within the central Tokyo. There it was clean and safe, but he hadn't been told where it was. All his mom would say is 'She's safe now, don't worry'.

A shame that was never good enough. In the full year since, it hadn't ever been good enough.

xxx

'I think that's us for the day,' the balding teacher mumbled, bored out of his wits by his own lesson in English. 'Tai, remember that there's such a thing as homophones. Things like 'knight' and 'night' are different, so be certain of their meaning in written tests and you'll do well.'

'Aye, aye, captain…' Tai moaned, not caring in the slightest about having a second language, no matter how compulsory it was to learn. 'Guess I'll have some lunch.'

Grabbing his bag from the side of his wooden desk, Tai slid the door open and left, wandering aimlessly down the corridor. He knew several routes, but the longest one to the cafeteria appealed to him. He wanted to kill some time anyway.

'Joe!' someone called out, making Tai freeze in place and look after the voice. 'Joe, don't run in the hallway!'

Tai's frown deepened. It wasn't the Joe he knew, but some second-year with an attitude problem. Ignoring his pointless protests with the student council president, he continued on toward the stairs at the very end of the hallway.

Joe Kido. Izzy Izumi. Matt Ishida. TK Ishida. Mimi Tachikawa. Sora Takenouchi.

The six names of his only friends were memorised from his time in summer camp. He hadn't bothered with friends in junior high or middle school, so the summer camps had been his only social outlet, at least until he turned fifteen and it had turned a little weird for him to go. That year it had only been TK there, anyway, and he'd made his own friendship group.

People had tried over the years, but who needed them? In school, a friend one day could be spreading rumours the next in some twisted bid for attention and other friends since they had something in common to speak of. Tai had been wise enough to take account of this when some girl came to him with talk of what her old friend had been doing while said girl was absent. When she returned, she found few waiting to greet her.

Sad, but it was a fact of school.

It was, in its own way, a form of politics in Tai's eyes. Nobody had friends that had been there from the start. That was something too rare to have been seen by him.

Reaching the cafeteria, populated by one or two people to every three tables, Tai figured it looked nice and quiet. He got himself some food and took his tray to an empty table, appreciating the silence of it all.

But it didn't last.

'Excuse me, Tai?'

He looked up to a pair of girls, one with a mischievous look on her face and the other behind her, as though she were trying to hide. He felt he knew their faces from somewhere, but he couldn't place it.

'Can I help you?' he said as shortly and politely as he could.

'Well, I was wondering if you minded having two girls eat with you?'

He did, but he'd never hear the end of it if he said so.

'Not really.'

The bolder one seemed delighted, 'That's great! Megumi, sit down while I get something to eat. I'll be back in a minute or two.'

'Y-Yuri…' the girl looked ready to run away as her friend and source of cover skipped away toward the short service line. 'Hello…' she muttered, taking a seat adjacent to his, 'I didn't know that you were going to be here today, Tai…'

'Well, English isn't my thing, so my mom's making me come here on Saturdays now for remedial classes,' as he said this, Tai was wondering why the girl seemed so familiar to him. 'Why're you here, Megumi?'

She looked thunderstruck. He immediately regretted using her name – her friend had said it, and since she seemed so familiar he had used it without thinking…

'I-I…' she went a deep red, not surprising for someone using your name so informally like that. 'I've got c-club activities… I'm in the art club… Yuri does it with me.'

'That so?' Tai was trying, really he was, but feigning interest was taking too much effort.

He went back to his food. Megumi and Yuri… the names rung familiar, but… he couldn't place where he had heard them before.

'Kept you waiting long?' Yuri was smiling boldly between Tai and her friend, and he was beginning to sense a certain awkward atmosphere he didn't entirely appreciate. 'That – that's a no, right?'

Tai wanted to hit his face into a wall. At least that way, girls would stop bugging him so much. Ever since Kari's incident and transfer to boarding school, he preferred acting like a lone wolf. With time, he'd even grown tired of the soccer club because of his 'fans'. That was almost five months ago, but even though he played with some friends in games at the park, the girls apparently hadn't learned to leave him alone.

'So… how're you two doing today?' Tai tried to maintain politeness. 'I hear your both in the art club.'

'Megumi tell you that?' Yuri waved a hand dismissively. 'Truth is, I'm only there to pass the time on weekends and when I'm bored. Megumi here's the artist. You should come see her painting, I bet you'd-'

'Yuri!' the shy girl slapped a hand onto her friend's mouth, her ears a shade redder for it. 'S-she's only messing around… I mean, I d-do paint but…'

'Whatever it is, I bet it's great. I'm not really into art, but I'm sure you're great at it.'

Tai went back to his food at a renewed pace, though he was careful not to look too hasty to the watchful girls. While Megumi fidgeted, her eyes darted to him when she thought he couldn't see and promptly to the table otherwise. All the Yuri girl did was smile wryly.

'So Tai, what are you doing now?' Yuri offered to break the silence.

'I… well, my lesson's finished but mom and dad left to see my sister, so I'm gonna go to the city for a while until they get back.'

He immediately regretted saying it – he could see the cogs working behind Yuri's conniving eyes, her smile broadening as she nudged Megumi under the table.

'I-I w-was thinking of g-going to the city t-too…' she mumbled almost incoherently, 'w-want to go t-t-together?'

'You'd do that to me?' Yuri said with mock-offence, 'And after all I've done for you, you leave me to the art teacher alone? That hurts…'

'Y-Yuri…' she shyly complained.

'I'm _kidding_. Your dad wouldn't let you go alone anyway, so you might as well, right?'

'Don't I get a say?' Tai chuckled, but he was deadly serious.

But this apparently went amiss.

'I'll trust Megumi to you then, Mr Soccer Champion,' she teased, up and leaving as quickly as she had eaten, which was quite fast as not a grain of rice remained.

Tai sighed heavily, being stuck with acting as the girl's personal bodyguard of all things before he'd had a chance to decline. Well, he'd had a chance but he wasn't listened to. Yuri might as well have been his mom since neither would let him ask or say anything not to their liking.

He glanced over at Megumi and sure enough the poor girl looked so embarrassed and awkward it was adorable. If life were an anime, she would have steam coming from her ears. He couldn't help but smile at this.

'Are you okay?' he asked gently, watching her jump in her seat. 'Hey, I don't bite… so, what's it you want in the city?'

'I-I-I w-want… t-to… see a m-movie…'

'A movie, huh?' Tai wondered if he'd really have to care for her all day after all. 'I can drop you off at the theatre if you want.'

For the first time, she looked directly at him, 'I-I thought you might w-want to… you know, it's the weekend and all, so…'

'You want me to go with you?' she nodded, much to his inner chagrin. 'Well… what's the movie?'

'The _Kingdom of Ice _movie,' she stated, sounding like she was calming down a little.

He thought on it carefully. The movie was known as a 'chick-flick', he knew that much from the internet, but there were apparently some big battle scenes to cater to people other than teenage girls. He would refuse ordinarily, but the poor girl seemed the crying type and there were people around.

He was still in his first year and he didn't want the next two filled with rumours of him being 'that guy' who hurt 'that girl's feelings'. There was no greater shame for a school student.

'That's got action in it, right?' Tai asked her, getting a frantic nod. 'Sure, I'm game. Good thing I've got my wallet with me.'

xxx

The walk to the train station had been several quiet minutes Tai never wished to repeat. It might be against his better judgement and will, but a girl was effectively telling him bluntly what she felt, even if she was doing it badly.

Boarding the train with Megumi, Tai knew that his father's wisdom hadn't been misguided, even if he'd earned his mom's wrath.

Besides them the train car was empty, but still Megumi sat directly beside him. She sat so close in fact that their elbows were touching. Perhaps that would explain the blush and the panicked fidgeting beside him. To his surprise he could even feel her heat through his school blazer.

How was he supposed to let her down easy? She wasn't making it easy for him, _that_ was for sure.

Just then, Megumi's cell phone began to ring with a pop song popular the year before. Not hesitating in silencing the song, she immediately pressed 'receive' and put it to her ear, shielding her mouth and the mouthpiece with her hand.

'Hello?'

'Megumi, you dog! How goes the trip?'

'F-fine, dad…'

Tai groaned within – it was Yuri's voice coming through the earpiece. Now his mind was tickled more by this, as the name and attitude of the girl seemed more familiar to him still.

But where from? He still couldn't think of who she was.

'Alright… I'll see you later…' Tai looked back after spacing out, Megumi returning the disconnected phone to her pocket.

'So… your dad sounded nice…'

'Y-yes. He's very protective of me.'

'_Can't imagine why_,' Tai thought sarcastically. 'Listen, I was wondering if it's really okay that you're here. I mean, don't you have a painting to paint or whatever?'

It wasn't the smoothest way to let a girl know you wanted to be somewhere else, _anywhere_ else, but he had little other option.

And that was why he felt like crying when it failed.

'Oh, n-no… I – um – I… finished my painting a long time ago… I hang around for Yuri's sake…'

'That's nice of you,' Tai said through a smile, wondering how someone could be as dense as she was being.

'Thank you…'

'Don't mention it. We're about to arrive at the station.'

xxx

The movie hadn't been what he would class as a classic. It had in total two minutes of battle scenes to two hours of mushy stuff for a queen who'd come into mystical magic and turned tyrant because she could. Tai had actually nodded off for half an hour. When he woke up Megumi had neither noticed nor had the film's plot really advanced.

All in all, a waste of yen. As they left the theatre, Megumi had a spring in her step as though she'd watched a classic on par with _The Eastern Dragon's Claw_.

Now _that_ had been a film Tai would watch fully and happily.

'Alright, anything else you feel like doing?' Tai was strained by the experience of losing two hours, but he'd been taught to be polite to women. 'Megumi? You hear me?'

The girl wasn't next to him anymore. She was across the street at a memorabilia store that sold merchandise of the theatre's movies. A mutual benefit, to be sure, but Tai felt as though a stone had fallen into his stomach when she waved him over excitedly.

'Do you have a cellphone?' Megumi's nerves were gone, so Tai admitted that the movie had an effect. 'Tai?'

'Yeah, why?'

'W-well… I was wondering if you might like a cellphone strap. To remember today by…'

Reluctantly, Tai complied and approached the shelves, looking with Megumi at the cellphone straps sat upon them in neat columns. There were chibi, insignia and symbols for your cellphone, but Megumi's eyes were fixed on one set.

The movie's title might have made it obvious, but a snowflake that enveloped a small heart at the centre was a little too much for Tai. If anyone saw, he'd never hear the end of it, least of all from his friends at the park. He could almost hear it now.

'_Why is such a cold-hearted guy playing a team sport, anyway_?'

He chewed at the inside of his cheeks, trying his best to think of a way out of it, but Megumi was already at the register with a pair of them. He could feel his life slipping away as money traded hands and a transaction was completed.

'Here, T-Tai…'

She held it out to him, the snowflake and its heart strangely the most imposing thing he had seen that day. His mom was one thing, but being cornered like he was – he was even more astonished as he slowly took it and gave the girl a smile, a joyous look coming over her.

'It's nice…' he muttered, attaching the strap to his cell phone while Megumi did the same.

'Well, I s-should maybe be heading home now…'

Tai scratched at his unkempt hair and sighed in relief at this. He was free to go to the arcade like he'd planned.

At least that had been his plan.

Megumi was still following him closely. At first he thought it was to go to the train station, but once they'd passed it, he couldn't help but wonder why she was hanging around. Could she not take a hint, or was she doing it on purpose?

'Um… Megumi?'

'Yes?'

'Why're you, y'know, still following me?'

'I thought that you didn't mind me being here.'

'Well, sure, but…'

'Oh, and Tai?'

'Yeah?' Tai looked back at her, but it wasn't the blushing girl from before – her eyes were flat and narrowed. 'Uh, did I say something wrong?'

'You sound so disappointed…' she sniffed – a forced touch, but it was effective. 'Don't you like me?'

Tai was caught off-guard. Not only by what she was saying but how her attitude had suddenly become blunter since the movie. It had changed so dramatically it was unbelievable.

'I – uh… well, I don't really know that much about you,' he decided on, as it was a nice way to say that he couldn't place her face or Yuri's at all.

'You d-don't?' it seemed that took the wind out of her sails. 'H-haven't you ever noticed anything I d-did before?'

'Well…' he shrugged, 'I just try to get by from day to day if you know what I mean. Don't really need to notice things.'

'B-but… but I was at your soccer championship, r-remember?' she sounded almost broken by what he was saying.

Honestly, he didn't, but he was too nice to say it.

'Oh! Megumi, you were there weren't you! Five months is my limit, sorry… I can't remember much from then…' he scratched at his hair. 'So – uh… since you're sticking around, want to go to the arcade or something?'

Her face reddened a little as she nodded, 'The p-park sounds nice.'

xxx

'Not even playing on the team, but still he scores!'

'Nice one Tai!'

'We knew you had it in you!'

'I think that girl's from my class… Nanami? No… Meg?'

'It's Megumi genius. Don't worry, we'll get outta your hair Tai.'

'Challenge and a half right there.'

Tai scowled after the group of old teammates from his school's soccer team as they left the park for him and a quiet Megumi. Assuming a bench for himself, the girl sat beside him, her eyes following the teammates as they left the park and disappeared up the path toward the city station.

'Do you know them?' she inquired softly.

'I did, yeah,' Tai grumbled. 'They're my old team on the soccer team. One's Hiroki from my class. He's still being pissy since I left the team after the championship.'

'W-why did you leave?' she asked.

'Well, the sport's great and all, but I just lost my drive to be in the team. Last year some things happened and I just wanted some me-time's all.'

'Last year?'

'That's not something I'm talking about. Now then, what's the big idea for being here, Megumi?'

'I was wondering if…' she looked up at the sky. 'If… i-if your sister was okay.'

Tai's blood froze, his heart coming to a standstill and his mind jamming.

'What?' he all-but coughed in his surprise.

'Kari. I was wondering how she was doing… s-she didn't seem to be t-too healthy the last time I saw her…'

'What? You've seen – what's wrong with her?'

'I saw her last month… s-she had an attack or something… she was r-really panicking and locked herself in her room…'

'When'd you see her?' Tai pressed, turning to her and sparking fright in her gaze. 'Tell me how she is – where is she, anyway? Where's her boarding school?'

'Y-you don't know where she goes to school?'

'No, but I'm about to though aren't I?'

'I thought that you-'

Just then, Megumi's cellphone blared out the pop song that was her ringtone, breaking Tai's concentration while she answered.

'Hello? Yuri, this isn't-'

'MEGUMI, HEAD DOWN!' the earpiece's shout was filled with static.

'Head-?'

But Tai's head was brought down by Megumi herself, hugging him tightly and pulling him down to the ground with her. There was a strange whistling sound in the air for a few seconds while she held him against her chest.

'Megumi, let go!'

Once the whistling was gone, Megumi complied and released him, getting to her feet with uncommon haste. She turned her head around the entire park so quickly it was a wonder she didn't get whiplash.

'Megumi?' Tai asked, sitting up. 'Megumi, what's with you? You talk about my sister and then you wrestle me? _Really_?'

'Tai, stay down!'

Her words tumbled from her throat in a gasp, her breath driven from her as she staggered. Confused, Tai got to his feet and grabbed her by the shoulders.

'Megumi? Are you alright?'

He saw then just how not 'alright' she was.

Blood was seeping through her uniform's shirt and blazer in thin strips, but the moist colour permeated the stiches and began to fall down to her skirt. It was like something out of a horror movie.

Tai could see the fear in her eyes as her knees buckled beneath her and gave way. Without thinking he eased her fall. Her full weight was bearing into his arms, like she wasn't able to support herself.

'M-Megumi?' he whispered as her small breaths weakened with every second. 'Megumi! Stay awake – just keep your eyes open!' he began to panic as blood was dripping rapidly beneath her and him. 'Oh man… What happened? M-Megumi, listen to me, alright? J-just listen to me and stay awake, alright? Megumi…'

'T-T-Ta-Tai…' she breathed ever so weakly and faintly, blood escaping as she spoke. 'R-run…'

'No way!' Tai disputed, reaching for his cell phone, 'You just need and ambulance's all!'

'That's not gonna happen,' someone said from behind him – when did they-?

Megumi coughed bloodily, 'T-Ta…i… ru…n…'

'Looking rough there, Meg. Shouldn't have gotten in the way, should you?'

'Who're you?' Tai demanded, pressing the 'receive' button to call the emergency services. 'It can wait, she needs a-'

Without warning, heat and shock passed up his arm like electricity, his ear deafened by a loud bang. In a daze, he fell onto his back, feeling his hand moisten with blood.

Though it looked like a blur, he saw Megumi bleeding beside him, and the chips and piece of his phone lying between them. The cellphone strap sat in Megumi's blood with them.

'W-wha-?'

'Not smart,' said the voice, ringing in his ears sharply.

'Megumi…' he hacked and coughed, still in shock but conscious enough to know he was in a pool of Megumi's blood. He had no idea what was going on, but he could feel himself falling, passing out quickly. Shaking, he reached over to her, but he fell into blackness before he was sure he'd reached her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Radiance Academy**

**Class Two**

xxx

His head felt like a bell or a gong that had been hit, the ringing of his migraine incessant and unforgiving. The only time that had come close was the time he'd tried his dad's offered sake, though he was twelve and it didn't agree with him. Or maybe it was the hit his mom had given him – he'd forgotten.

He felt himself again, torn from the world of dreams. Reaching for his forehead, he rubbed away at a thin layer of sweat. He'd had the worst dream that he had died next to some girl called Megumi. He didn't know that a dream could have so much blood in it, but now he knew that they could.

He went to sit up, but he couldn't.

'Wha-?'

He looked down to his stomach where a weight was pinning him to his bed. A girl was asleep, her arms on her stomach like a makeshift pillow.

It was Megumi.

Tai's headache worsened as his dream came back to him. It must have been a dream, since Megumi would have died from so much blood being lost.

It was too much blood.

Yet she was sleeping on him, a chair beside his bed her only support. It was his desk chair, and she was in _his_ room.

Embarrassing as it was, he hoped he could manage to move her without waking her. He was famished. He felt like he'd been asleep for days on end. His muscles were so relaxed that it took great effort to even look up at Megumi's sleeping form.

There were footsteps outside his room – it had to be his mom or his dad. One of two things would happen if they found him awake and looking at the girl sleeping on his stomach: his mom would hit him for acting indecently or his dad would laugh without end.

Neither applied to him, so when he heard the doorknob turn, he fell back into his pillow, closed his eyes and stayed perfectly still. He heard them enter, along with a small rattle – glasses on a tray, maybe?

He heard them being put on his desk, soft footsteps coming across to him. It was a struggle to keep his face still.

'Ms Kanada?' his mother's voice – he could feel Megumi being shaken gently, 'Ms Kanada, please wake up.'

There were stifled moans as the girl complied, her weight leaving Tai's stomach.

'Ms Kanada, we were wondering if you'd tell us our options… we never thought that Tai would be like Kari.'

Tai's dad then added, 'Does this mean your school will take him in now?'

'I – yes…' the girl yawned. 'W-where's Yuri? She was meant to talk to you while I watched over Tai.'

'Yeah, she did but she got a call on her cell and left earlier. Didn't so much as say why she was going.'

'Oh, that was for a statement I think… when things like this happen and we get hurt or hurt someone, we have to give a statement,' Megumi's voice was so confident, so completely stark to the dream. 'Only the family's meant to know, so if something happens in public we need a way to hide what really happened.'

'And… t-that includes Tai and what happened, doesn't it?'

Tai struggled to remain still and calm in his false-sleep. He could hear sadness in his mom's voice for some reason.

'I'm so sorry… Tai wasn't supposed to get h-hurt. I was told to watch him but I let him get hurt anyway… but now we know what he can do. Now we know that he needs to be with Kari.'

'I see…' his mother sighed sadly, and Tai could almost sense his dad standing next to her, comforting her. 'Well… we saw Kari yesterday when you called. She really missed him, she'll be happy, won't she?'

''Course she will,' his dad reassured. 'I mean yeah, it'll be lonely without our little heartbreaker here, but we'll adjust.'

'Tai's our little what?'

'Heartbreaker – Ms Kanada, you said he was with you in the park, right? What's that tell you, dear?'

'Oh dear… Ms Kanada…'

'I-i-it w-was only t-to keep an eye on him, I-I swear!' Megumi's voice was higher and Tai could tell she must have gone red – he wondered if he was going red, too. 'I-I mean…'

'Ms Kanada, I don't blame you,' his mom was saying with music in her voice, 'it's a little sad that you feel like that about Tai… he's so dense that light bends around him.'

His dad's laugh echoed in his room as though it were a cave.

'Well then, Ms Kanada, I guess we need the forms signing again.'

'Y-yes! I've been carrying them just in case Tai did need to transfer,' he heard a zipper of a bag open and the crinkling of paper. 'Here you go. I also need a letter to the headmaster this time since he got hurt.'

'Alright, best do it in the kitchen then,' his dad offered, the three pairs of feet all leaving the room, switching the lights off and closing the door behind them.

xxx

Tai lay in the darkness, staring up at the ceiling. After about ten minutes, his curiosity got the better of him, and his legs regained some functionality without Megumi's weight holding him to the bed. Steadily, he got to his feet and waded through the dark to his desk.

His mom had left a tray there with a single glass of water. Tai's throat was parched, so he immediately drank the lot and let it clear his sleep-fogged senses. Slowly, he headed over to the door, finding himself bumbling and stumbling for some reason. He figured he was just tired and twisted the doorknob. He could hear scribbling and chatting.

'Mom?' he groaned as he walked into the light of the kitchen and living room. 'Dad? You there?'

'Oh my…' he heard his mom joke, chuckling.

'Son, you're learning,' his dad offered, chortling, 'you're not there yet, but you'll learn.'

'T-Tai!' Megumi's voice shrieked at him.

'What?' Tai still couldn't believe she was real. 'You're real?'

'That's rude, Tai,' his mom huffed. 'Before you judge others, why not put some clothes on?'

'What's that?' Tai looked down at himself – all that he was wearing were his boxers and socks. 'Where're my PJs?'

'Is that really what you should be asking? Poor Ms Kanada here was worried about you and you repay her like that?'

Tai noticed that the girl was looking at the kitchen rather than at him, her face red. She could've been mistaken for a traffic light with such a heavy shade of red at her face, ears and neck. Tai himself didn't care – she'd seemed to like him, so she probably visualised him enough already to render his being embarrassed worthless.

And girls said that only men were perverts! The nerve of them!

'Son, please…' now his dad's laugh had given way to an order, 'go change, now.'

'Sure.'

Two minutes later he came back in a pair of jeans and a baggy T-shirt he picked up out of his clothes pile at the corner of his room. His mom and dad nodded at the improvement, but Megumi was still looking anywhere else but his direction.

'So… that happened, right?' Tai questioned, speaking of the park. 'I mean, the whole bleeding thing's probably a dream but-'

'That happened, honey,' his mom said glumly, pointing in the direction of the working washing machine. 'When we were back, Ms Tachibana had put your clothes in the machine for me.'

'Who?'

'Yuri…' Megumi said weakly, still flushed. 'Y-Yuri and I took your c-clothes off – they had b-blood on them, so…'

Great, just great. With a large groan and a palm to the face, Tai realised he'd been stripped by two girls while he had been asleep.

'What happened?' he pressed on, hiding his embarrassment. 'I mean, there you were talking then you were bleeding and then my phone sort of blew up in my face! How's that happen?'

'Oh, about the phone, don't worry!' Megumi rifled through her bag at the foot of her chair quickly.

Tai lifted an eyebrow, 'You saved my phone?'

'Better!'

She held it out to him – the cellphone strap, a snowflake with an encased heart. With an awkward grin, he accepted it.

'Uh… thanks, was worried about that,' he inspected it, finding it cleaned of all traces of blood. 'This thing's clean! How's that – I saw it, in your blood! Speaking of which, how're you still alive after that if it happened?'

Tai panicked, patting at the right side of his face – his ear was still there, as well as his skin. It was unmarked and unharmed. All he felt was a cold sting similar to the aftermath of a shave.

'It blew up in my face – how-?'

Shoving the cellphone strap into his pocket, Tai assumed the seat left unclaimed, taking notice of the sheets of paperwork his mom and dad were both working through.

'What's this stuff? Somebody mind saying something?'

'T-Tai…' Megumi looked conflicted. 'I… you won't believe me, nobody ever does, so I'm going to do something to prove it, alright?'

'Prove what?'

'Can I have your hand?'

'Sure, but why?' he reached over and gave her his hand as asked, but then she dug her nails into his forearms and scratched him. 'Ow! What's the big idea?'

He cradled his arm – she had drawn blood!

'Megumi, what-?'

'Look at it, Tai. I'm sorry, but this way you'll see for yourself.'

'See what for myself?'

But then he saw what she was on about.

Where the scratches had been there were now thin scabs. The blood was dry, seconds after it had been exposed to the air. Tai didn't know much about biology, but he was sure that blood didn't dry out after a few seconds.

'Now watch this,' Megumi scratched at her own arm, drawing blood in thin strips. Taking Tai's hand, she assumed it as someone would in a handshake. 'Tai, do you see it?'

He saw alright, but he didn't believe.

The bloodied cuts weren't drying out, but rather they were repairing themselves, closing as though she hadn't been cut at all.

Then came a sharp sting at his own arm, and there he found fresher cuts, though he watched them dry this time. It had only taken a second for them to become scabs.

'H-how did that-?' Tai was more than a little freaked out, 'T-that's not meant to happen, is it?'

'No, but it saved me!' Megumi told him sternly, a reverent look on her face. 'You saved me, Tai! In the park I woke up and you were holding my hand like this – you took my cuts and stopped me bleeding, that's how I survived!'

'Then how am I alive? I thought you'd bled to death, anyway!'

'When I woke up the cuts had already closed, so you stopped bleeding pretty quickly… I-I don't understand why I feel so healthy but… but I know that you saved me, Tai.'

'T-this isn't me!' Tai disputed, a little frightened, 'This hasn't happened before!'

'These things happen to boys and girls like you when they're scared, is that right, Ms Kanada?' his dad said, getting a short nod. 'Kari went through the same thing last year, but-'

'What's Kari gotta do with _this_?'

'Son, you've got to understand-'

'No, don't try that! You've not told me anything about Kari for a year – I want to know what's going on with me – what boys and girls are you talking about, and what's going on with me? Well, you just going to sit there all day or are you actually going to tell me?'

'Tai…' his mom looked crestfallen, but he didn't ease up.

'Mom… please, just… just tell me. What's the worst that that'll happen now?'

'Tai… you're right, but it's not – it's not that easy,' she mumbled. 'When we lost Kari because of this, I got scared but… now that you have to go as well…'

'Go where, mom?' Tai was relieved and scared of finally getting answers. 'Mom, please… what's going on?'

'Last year… Kari's elementary school had a problem with some girls. They did what they wanted, tearing up the kids' books and breaking windows for fun. Then they came after Kari since she was the most popular in her class, but…'

When his mom looked away, his dad continued.

'But when they tore her books up in front of her and started pushing her, Kari got scared and hurt them.'

'Yeah, I'm sure,' Tai scoffed – Kari cried once for stepping on squirrel by accident, even though it ran off. 'Kari's not like that. First off, she's not the healthiest kid ever.'

'Tai, after what you just did do you really think it's all about muscle and size?' his dad gave him a vague stare. 'Kari's like you, but… she did something different. Don't know what, though. Those girls never talked about it again, that's for sure. We knew you'd never believe us anyway, so we told you that we had her transferred because of bullies. I can tell by looking at you that we were right.'

'So that's why the school never expelled them?' Tai demanded hotly, remembering how badly Kari had been crying when he'd gotten home. 'Fine… I don't like it, but fine… so what's supposed to happen to me now?'

'You're going to go live with Kari at her boarding school,' his dad told him. 'It's a nicer place for her and you since nobody will come looking for you, not to mention you can make friends without feeling like outcasts. Yesterday Kari even showed us her friends – she'll be happy to see you.'

'What, so that's that?' Tai asked, looking between the three of them and only getting blank stares. 'I'm moving now? What about school?'

'Tai,' Megumi spoke up, 'the Academy's a special place for people like us. They have all sorts of ways to make trouble go away. When there's someone new, they try to get them there as soon as possible. I was taken there a day after I had an accident with my bullies…'

'Oh…' Tai was caught off-balance by that. 'I – uh…'

That was when his dad cut in.

'Tai, we're gonna have to drive you there, so go grab some clothes. We'll take you as soon as your mom and I finish these papers.'

'And the letter, please,' Megumi asked in a slight panic.

'Don't worry, I'll make it clear it wasn't your fault. Could you give our son a hand, Ms Kanada?'

'O-of course I will!'

xxx

'Seriously, how's this happened?' Tai cursed to himself, shoving a shirt into his dad's old suitcase. 'I thought this sorta thing only happened in movies and anime.'

'I was surprised when it happened, too…' Megumi weakly input folding a pair of jeans neatly, 'But seeing Kari will be nice. I haven't seen her in a month, but she'll be happy to see you.'

'Megumi, I was wondering… this school of yours, is it like a prison?'

'I-I'm sorry?'

'Well, since we're freaks and all, I thought we weren't allowed outside.'

'Oh!' she gasped. 'No, it's not like that! We have school excursions and a cultural festival, and you're allowed out into the city with a curfew! If you get the headmistress's permission, you can come home for vacations, too!'

Tai shoved another shirt into the suitcase, thinking on it – it didn't sound like a terrible punishment, but being sent off for apparently saving someone's life was ridiculous. Was it because he scared his parents?

Had they sent Kari off because they thought she was a freak?

He certainly felt like a freak, and worse still, nobody had really explained what was happening to him at all. They were hurrying him along, trying to force him away to some freak's school. Where was the divine Japanese justice?

Nowhere to be found was the answer.

'Megumi!' called a squeal of delight from the door. 'You're alright!'

'Yuri!' the two ran and hugged each other tightly. 'I'm alright. Tai here saved my life…'

'I know!' Yuri smiled cheekily at him and nudged Megumi in the ribs, 'If it wasn't for them, you think that Tai might've given you something that wasn't the Kiss of Life?'

'Y-Yuri! That's not what happened!' the girl flushed and punched her friend in the arm. 'It isn't funny! Stop laughing! Tai was hurt!'

'He's fine,' she said inbetween breaths. 'When I got there it looked bad, but his wounds were closed. I'm more worried about you – I saw how much of your blood was there!'

'I-I woke up in it, thank you! It was on my clothes!'

'Good thing we washed them! We didn't want you flinging yourself at your hero naked, did we?'

'Y-YURI!'

'Sorry, I meant 'I',' Yuri's smirk was almost evil in its enjoyment. 'What, you got something to say?'

While Megumi ranted at Yuri's remark, Tai instead focussed on packing, all his thoughts bent around seeing his sister again. The last time he'd seen her was a year before, a frail girl in tears who was locked in her room one day and gone the next.

He never wanted to be separated from her like that again.

xxx

'That's right… yeah, he'll be coming too… oh, he's here – Tai, come talk to this lady, would you?'

Tai had just finished packing when his dad had called him over to the phone, his mom making some tea in the kitchen before they set off to Kari's school.

'Hello?' Tai said into the receiver, his dad sitting on the couch with a worn expression. 'This is Tai.'

'_Mr Kamiya?' a sharp voice came through like a drill in his ear. 'This is Naomi Ohno, I'm the deputy-headmistress of Radiance Academy, the school your sister is attending. I was informed of your circumstances and rest assured a room is quite ready for you, as is your sister. I trust you're feeling well_?'

'Apart from finding out I'm a freak, yeah, I'm fine,' Tom scowled at the phone.

'_Mr Kamiya, you are far from a 'freak'. You are among friends even now, are you not? Ms Kanada and Ms Tachibana are with you, aren't they_?'

'They're like me too?' Tai wasn't anything more than mildly surprised. 'How'd you know that – _this_ – would happen to me? I don't get it…'

'_Patience, Mr Kamiya. Patience and resolve. I will be there to greet you when you arrive at Radiance Academy, and then I will tell you everything you wish to know. For now, please keep calm and do as your parents and our students tell you to. They will see you to us, I promise you that_.'

Then the tone sounded, telling him she had hung up without waiting for his answer.

'Son, you're not a freak,' his dad said. 'Your mom's got the strength of a bear when she's angry, but she's not a freak. We all have something that's ours, but it doesn't make us 'freaks'.'

'Your dad's right, Tai,' his mom chipped in, handing him a cup of tea. 'Kari felt the same way. She thought you would hate her for what she could do.'

'I wouldn't ever hate Kari,' Tai shot down, frowning as he took a sip of tea.

'Well, if she isn't a 'freak', then why should you be?' his mom argued logically, sitting down and grabbing at his dad's cheek, 'If anyone's a freak in our family, it's your dad for making me mad in the first place.'

'I-I'm showwy dea! L-let go pwease!'

Yuri and Megumi giggled, but Tai didn't even try to pretend he found it funny. He had bigger things to worry about, like how he had ended up getting hurt.

'Hey, Megumi?'

'Yes, Tai?'

'How'd we get all cut up, anyway? I heard someone talking to me, but then my phone blew up in my face…'

'Oh…' it was clear that she had been hoping he wouldn't ask. 'Well… Tai, there are people like us who don't go to the school.'

'What d'you mean?'

Megumi and Yuri looked at each other, looking panicked.

'Well, there's this organisation that thinks that we shouldn't have to hide who we are,' Yuri told him. 'But since normal people would panic and want to get rid of us, they think that we should all fight so that we can have our own country to ourselves.'

'A country?' Tai gaped at them, never having heard such a thing before. 'But, then we would all be in one place! Everyone would go there, wouldn't they?'

'That's… well, they think that normal people are dangerous, that's all I know. The rest's from history class, so I couldn't really tell you if I wanted to.'

'So, these people are the ones that tried to kill Megumi? Why?'

Again, they looked at each other before answering.

'W-well… that was because I was with you, Tai,' Megumi sat down before explaining. 'When Kari came to the school, we were transferred to your school a few months after, since you were around the age that we change. I-I think it was because I was with you that Junta was interested.'

'"Junta"?'

'The organisation we're telling you about,' Yuri clarified. 'They've been around since the first of us were born in the early 1900s, but they got quieter, so we haven't been found out yet except by the parents of students.'

'Why'd they get quieter?'

'Well, mostly because their old leader died but… well… in 1945, something happened that made them kind of not want to be seen…'

'The bombs, right?' his dad spoke up knowledgably, slouching in the couch. 'Makes sense, but as long as Tai and Kari are safe at this school, I don't really care. Do you dear?'

'Kari seemed happy there,' his mom said, 'that's all I care about.'

'Oh, the headmistress is really strong, so don't worry! See, we can class people now based on what teaching they need to give them control. After that, we have exams like any other schools and we go off to get jobs like normal people without worrying about setting things on fire and stuff like that.'

'You can class people?' Tai asked, feeling overcome with strange information. 'How's that done?'

'Class IIIs are the most common with people who can use fire and water and stuff like that, Class IIs are a little more rare, mostly because it's made up of telekinetics. Class Is are people who need the most attention from special teachers because what they can do hasn't been dealt with before and they're making it up as they go to teach them control.'

Megumi nodded, 'I haven't really seen them before since talking about it's not something everyone does, but there's this boy called Davis in a Class I group. I never asked him what he could do, though... I think the deputy-headmistress teaches him herself.'

'Right…' Tai had lost interest with the confusing things happening all around him. 'I'm packed, by the way.'

'Right…' his dad and mom looked sadder for him saying it, 'well, we'd better go then. We've a bit of a drive ahead.'

xxx

Two hours later, Tai was beginning to wonder where the school was supposed to be. Not only were they away from the city, but towns and villages, too. All that he could see anymore was farmer's fields and the odd house dotted from place to place. Eventually, they were driving on unmarked dirt roads. He could tell since the last sign he saw was a long way back.

'Where's this school meant to be, the woods?' Tai was still unhappy with having to go at all.

'It's in a place with plenty of protection, far away from normal people,' his dad said solemnly while his mom drove. 'At least that's what they told us when we brought Kari here. Least she's safe from some things there.'

Dad had never been happy that he had never gotten round to learning how to drive. The subway had always done him justice and got him around, but Tai's mom wasn't exactly the most talented of drivers in the world. He, his dad and Kari had always thought she was actually trying to kill them at times behind the wheel. She was a danger.

But that didn't matter to anyone right now. They were away from people and on dirt road.

'Dear, I'm emotional and driving, but I will pull over if you need your manners pounded back into you,' his mom threatened in a sickly sweet tone, smiling.

'Stop,' Yuri told her, and to his surprise his mother did just that, turning off the engine. 'Sorry, but you know the drill. We can't show you where it is.'

'Its fine, we usually get blindfolds…' Tai's mom told her. 'Tai… I want you to promise me not to get in trouble… and if you do, I want you to come home. Understood?'

'Mom, I hardly know where I am – how am I meant to just come home?'

'Kari had a computer in her room, so I'm thinking you will to. I want you to email me if there's a problem. And if you can, since I don't have to worry about Kari scaring you anymore, I'd like the two of you to come home for Christmas.'

'But it's almost summer!' Tai told her. 'That's weeks! Why can't we come home then?'

'You need to bond and make friends, son,' his dad put it cautiously. 'Your mom and I talked while you were sleeping. We've already come to terms with this.'

'Dad-'

'Tai, watch over Kari. She's been lonely without you. She pretends not to, but she does. I'm her mother and I know.'

'Mom…'

'Come here,' Tai was wrapped up in a double hug by his mom and dad before he could even breathe; the seatbelt dug into his shoulder as he was pulled forward. 'I'm sorry son, it's for the best…'

'Don't go forgetting – you promised to email me if you had a problem.'

'I… okay, mom… I'll try… but…'

'But?'

'I can't breathe…'


	3. Chapter 3

**Radiance Academy**

**Class Three**

xxx

'Come on Tai, don't fall behind!'

'In case you're missing it, I've got the _suitcase_!'

'Oh, come on! Don't be such a baby!'

'Yuri!'

'What?'

'It's Mr Uchiyamada! We're here!'

Tai narrowed his eyes as the trio approached a tree within the thick wood. His mom and dad had begun the drive home, leaving him behind with Megumi and Yuri, but for the last half hour he'd done nothing but trudge over tree roots and drag a suitcase through untouched woodland.

And now it seemed the two girls seemed satisfied that they were finally at the school, even though nothing was there apart from a tree and an old man with a cane.

'Mr Uchiyamada, we brought someone new!'

'Hm?' the old man ponderously said, looking at them. 'I see… well, if you're quite sure Ms Tachibana.'

Tai saw nothing but a shambling wreck of an old man and a tree. What was he meant to be looking at, a school behind the tree?

'Uh… why's this old guy stood in the middle of the woods?'

Yuri only smiled deviously at him.

'Just wait and see, Tai.'

Tai waited as instructed, but still found it mightily confusing as to why an old man was sat in the woods alone. Had he been abandoned by some vindictive relative, or had his stroll gone wrong?

Whatever it was, it had to be more natural than Tai's day – that much was for sure. The very fact his mom and dad had left him in the woods, many miles from home with nothing but a suitcase said it all.

'Very well,' the old man smiled genially and tapped at the tree thrice with his cane.

What happened then defied belief.

Tai watched with subdued shock and fear as the tree's bark began to glow, the light joining so naturally before him that it was like watching a bath's water gather together. Within seconds the bark's light had converged into the form a small bubble before them, shining harmoniously. It was a portal if he had ever seen one in movies or games.

'Tai, we need to walk through it,' Megumi told him softly.

'Yeah, and don't be scared – you'll be a total copy of Megumi if you do.'

'Yuri! Stop that!'

'What?' she asked with blissful ignorance. 'If he's chicken out here just imagine what Mimi's crowd'll do to him in there. Better for him to open his mind a little anyway.'

Tai barely heard them. How could he be bothered to listen when a hole in reality was sitting right in front of him? It was in contravention to everything he'd been taught at school about physics and science and what could be real.

Well, what was more real and surreal at once than standing before the genuine article?

Trembling, he lifted a hand toward the light, sweeping at it as he would to test water's heat. It was warm as the water would be, but it was also numbing – his arm felt completely relaxed and at ease with a simple touch.

'What is this?'

'Tai, can you stop hogging the portal?' Yuri asked behind him.

'This can't be – I mean, can this actually happen?'

'Oh for-!' the next thing Tai knew he was engulfed by the light, Yuri's foot pushing him in with an uncontested strength as he hadn't expected such impatience. It felt like he was falling through the sky with a major case of vertigo.

But then he landed in the dirt, his suitcase standing beside him like some foreboding edifice, its intent known. Tai sealed his eyes as his fear became real and its weight shifted, smacking him in the head. It was a good thing he'd packed lazily and lightly. His head hurt more out of irritation than anything else.

As he got the suitcase off of his head, a hand came into view.

'Need help?'

He detested the offer of the sweet voice. He slapped the offered hand away and got to his feet alone.

'No thanks, Yuri…' he sneered hatefully. 'Don't do that again.'

'Or what?' her smile was broad and her eyes twinkled with mischief. 'Gonna heal me to death or something like that, soccer boy?'

'Y-Yuri…'

Tai blinked; Megumi had come out of nowhere, but she'd made no noise, as though she had teleported or just appeared. Sighing, Tai knew he would never understand the ways of these strange people.

But he was one too now, like it or not, wasn't he?

And he liked it about as much as he understood it. He was so confused it hurt.

'Ms Ohno!' Yuri was suddenly waving, and then Tai caught sight of what he had landed in front of.

It was huge. Like, the size of a village huge, and that didn't even go into the height of some of the buildings. Some of them must have been ten, no, twelve stories high!

There were storage facilities, a running track and plenty of flowerbeds. Radiance Academy was just that, radiant and beyond belief. It was like one of the super-academies from Tai's animes huge, but to see one in real-life was dumbfounding. How nobody could find it was a mystery to him, since the buildings easily climbed over the tallest trees in the wood around it.

'Mr Kamiya?'

His eyes returned from the skies to the earth, a rather strict-looking young woman standing before him in a suit. As if only to add to the image of hard-work and disassociation from society she also wore thick glasses.

But behind it, he had to admit, she was pretty damn cute. Far too cute to be the owner of the shrill and cold voice he'd heard on the phone. That had to have been static, surely.

'On behalf of the student body and the staff, I welcome you to Radiance Academy,' she offered a handshake, her voice apparently not a transmitted error. 'I'm Naomi Ohno. We spoke on the phone.'

'_I guessed that much_,' Tai thought critically, taking her hand in a brief shake. 'Thanks… I still don't get what's going on, but thanks…'

She smiled thinly, 'I'm here to induct you, so there's much to discuss. As it is, you shall be considered a 'transfer student' here for the time being, as the academic year is close to its end. After summer, I believe we can have you at the entrance ceremony.'

'Right,' he took his hand back. 'So… what's first then?'

'First I would like you to come to my office. With incidents like these, reports need filing and concealment of what happened must take place. Bleeding to death in the park isn't easily hidden from the common government or authorities, you see, and we like to know when our enemy makes it move.'

'Who? Those Junta guys?' Tai guessed, the woman's expression immediately darkening.

A serendipitous result of a female being agitated by something would be one who makes a rather adorable pouting face. This was not one of those results. It was the horrifying antithesis of one of those faces. The deputy-headmistress looked like some evil that was once banished.

'Yes, so I was told,' she admitted, her jaw clenched. 'That reminds me,' her eyes moved across to Megumi, who seemed to shrink under the look, 'I believe you were sent to protect him until we could be sure. Taking him somewhere public other than school was not a wise way to go about it, Ms Kanada.'

'I-I'm sorry, nothing had happened for so long, s-so I thought it might be safe…'

'Ms Kanada, I'm not angry with you, but it was a careless move on your part,' the woman lectured knowingly, a small twitch at the corners of her lips the only sign that she was attempting a smile. 'I despise them and what they stand for, but I despise my students being hurt and killed even more so.'

'I-I'm really sorry… I didn't mean…'

A hand on her shoulder silenced her.

'You brought him, as you promised you would, both of you,' she said in passing, as though only to confirm Yuri was even there and not pouting. 'Now then, Mr Kamiya, your sister is looking forward very much to seeing you, but I'm afraid I need to induct you. On that subject, do you have the forms, Ms Kanada?'

'I do,' Yuri drawled, grabbing an envelope from within her blazer and passing it off to the deputy-headmistress without a second's hesitation. 'Here.'

'Why thank you, Ms Tachibana,' she examined the envelope's exterior in distraction before even glancing at Yuri. 'I heard of timely alert. It may have saved Mr Kamiya and Ms Kanada from Junta. Well done.'

'_Don't say it like you mean it…_' Tai scolded inwardly, watching the air between the two almost distort with a heavy tension – it was a wonder no sparks were emitted by either one's glares. 'So… Kari's missed me, right?'

'Oh, most definitely,' Ms Ohno looked all-too-happily back to him. 'I've never seen a girl so alight with happiness before in the Academy, but she seemed pleased when I told her. She should be in her class now, so best we don't disturb her and make a scene. It may upset some of the students.'

Tai frowned at that, 'What's that meant to mean?'

'You will find the answer in time, but for now, come with me. Girls, it's been several long months for you, so you may have the day to yourselves. If you wish I'm certain the headmistress will grant you extended absence passes.'

'No thanks,' Yuri shot down without a care, 'my dad's still not said 'sorry' for freaking out on me.'

'I-I don't think my parents would be happy seeing me, either…' Megumi added with a fake smile on her lips. 'Can we see the headmistress? We have a letter to give her from Tai's mom and dad.'

'Of course. Mr Kamiya, follow me please.'

xxx

Incredibly, it had taken a solid fifteen minutes to even find her office. He had been led down actual streets on the campus until they came to the shortest building of three stories at the most, though its importance was clear, as it was utterly separate from any of the other buildings and it was at the head of the street.

He still couldn't believe it – a school's own _street_. One of a few at that. As if he didn't feel pressured by academia as it was, he now had to live and walk in it.

Inside the smallest building, Tai's eyes were met by the most desolate corridor ever – it was designed like the inside of a courthouse. Not only that, but there was absolutely nobody around. It was… eerie, to put it lightly.

'What is this place?' he asked, his eyes scanning every detail from the tiles of the floor to the flower vases.

'A courthouse.'

Tai froze to a standstill. Even in his thoughts, it had been a joke, but seriously?

Ms Ohno, noticing he'd halted, came to a stop as well and elaborated.

'You might think it strange, but bullying is a severe problem that needs severe punishment in this place. Here, a small case of bullying the weak could lead to injuries you cannot currently understand. For that reason, we have a court and staffing in the court to properly punish those who flaunt their might at others or might be captured Junta members. Why the face, Mr Kamiya?'

'Me and Megumi were almost toast at the park, so I get the whole punishing thing…' Tai's eyes wandered the courthouse again. 'But… isn't this a bit much? It's a school, so there're kids younger than me too, right?'

'I understand your concerns, but it must and will continue to be this way. Mild punishment teaches nothing. Heavy punishment, everything.'

She said it so calmly that it might as well have been discussed over friendly drinks. But Tai wasn't in a drunken stupor where he didn't grasp or care about what she was implying. He knew that she was admitting to punishments for _kids_.

He knew it – they were dangerous freaks.

Even so, did they deserve whatever this nutjob had in mind for stepping out of line?

'Don't give me that look, Mr Kamiya,' he hadn't realised that he was glaring until she spoke. 'This is in extreme cases only. I'm not a monster, and neither is the headmistress. A student council is established to deal with minor infractions and refer to me if anything else need be done.'

For the deputy-headmistress she sure threw her weight around, Tai thought critically. If she was only the deputy then what sort of whacked-out woman was the actual headmistress?

'As it is, I might add, anyone is applicable for the council, though with it being the end of the academic year soon… I would ask you to refrain from approaching them until after the new semester begins.'

At the head of the stairs, the corridors branched right and left from one main pair of doors, one more door at one end and the other adjacent to it.

'My office is on the left,' she instructed, Tai following after her. 'The headmistress is on the right, but she is only to be disturbed on the most important of occasions, understood? She has vital duties that she must perform without distractions. If you need anything, come to me and me alone.'

'Aye, aye, captain,' Tai mumbled back.

'Excuse me?'

'I said 'yes ma'am'.'

'Hmph,' she pushed her office door open, not bothering to invite him in and making him feel like an intruder as he followed and closed the door. 'One thing I want you to know with every assurance is that expulsion isn't an issue here.'

'I can't get expelled?' Tai echoed simply, agape at the idea of such uncommon freedom from following school rules. 'T-then what's the point of rules?'

'I said you can't be expelled,' she took her leather seat behind the desk, Tai taking the one opposite her. 'However, we can make life difficult as need be to keep you in line, Mr Kamiya. Whilst Junta prowl the streets, making it ethically questionable to expel you from this place, we will simply send you to one of the four other academies. I hear some are filled with an unpleasant lot of ruffians for students.'

'There's four more of these places?' Tai was stunned further; any more and he risked his jaw locking itself in that position. 'That's… cool, I guess…'

'Yes, it is,' she sounded every bit of the word 'uninterested'. 'Now that you know the position of the school's policy, I can formally enter you into our student body. Of course, you have every right to not start classes now that we are mere weeks from summer vacation.'

'Nah, I've not got much else to do – y'know, what with some crazy people out to get me. What's a bit of English class gonna do?'

'You misunderstand – while we teach common subjects, we also additionally teach the history of our own and rather than only conventional physical education, we also hold classes on control. I'm happy to say that we have thought of everything that many former students needed, whatever the path they may have chosen.'

'Okay…' Tai was a little waylaid by everything he was being told, but that didn't stop him. 'So… do I start class tomorrow? Where is my room, anyway?'

'You can start tomorrow, but for today, I would prefer it that you have a guided tour. Luckily, I know just the person. Across from my office, Ms Kanada and Ms Tachibana should be finished with their report. Ask Ms Tachibana and she will show you around.'

'Yeah… um…'

'Yes?'

'When can I see Kari?'

'Soon enough,' she told him, face betraying nothing. 'For now, I would like to be alone for the process of inducting you.'

'Uh… sure,' Tai got to his feet and pulled his suitcase along with him out of the office, closing the door behind him. 'She's out of her mind.'

'Who is?' he hadn't even noticed that Yuri was there, waiting for him. 'Don't tell me – the deputy-headmistress, right? Whatever she's doing, it's apparently working with some teacher.'

'What d'you mean?'

'I'll leave it to your imagination,' she chirped. 'Wanna start this tour?'

Tai was surprised by that, 'How'd you know?'

'I listened through the door,' she said with a cheeky smile. 'Duh.'

'Hmph,' was Tai's reply. 'Fair enough.'

'Come on. I'll show you what's what.'

'And that's in this tour, is it?' Tai joked, but Yuri was still smiling hugely.

'I'll show you what's what.'

xxx

'That's the library, that's dorm three, that's dorm four, that's a tram for lazy people… pretty much we've got thirteen dorms like these, but it'll be a while 'til we have to build new ones. Some are empty, have been for years.'

Tai was rattled by the rapid-fire declarations as Yuri pointed from building to building, not caring to explain what they were like. Finally, at the towering dorm six, she came to a standstill. Tai was grateful, the suitcase beginning to tire his arm. He felt as though they had been going up a gentle slope.

'That's dorm six. That's yours and mine, but Megumi's is in dorm three. In there there's this really annoying girl called Mimi – want my advice, don't go near her. She's always got a protective fanclub and it can go to her head sometimes. Other than that, there's nice people in here.'

Tai didn't care about that, 'Where's Kari staying?'

'Dorm two, I think,' she pressed a finger to her chin in thought. 'Two's got these specialists who deal with younger people with health problems. That's why none of her attacks before have been serious.'

'That's good…' Tai breathed a little easier – his sister had never had the best constitution, and even the slightest panic could set her off. 'Is – y'know… is she happy here?'

'As far as I can tell – Megumi's her friend and I'm just a third-wheel in it, so I don't see her all that often. You can go to dorm two later and check yourself. School's out here at five, but if she's in some club then it could be seven or even eight when you see her.'

'That's late,' Tai scrutinised, though Yuri was waving it off. 'What?'

'Big bad soccer champion Tai Kamiya worrying about a twelve year-old walking some well-lit street after curfew with security walking around?'

'Well when you put it like _that_.'

'Rest easy, you're her brother after all, not her dad,' Yuri teased, prodding a finger into his chest. 'Ease up a little – it's been a year and the worst thing that's happened, happened to _you_.'

Tai grimaced at the memory. Even if by some unnatural miracle he'd survived, just knowing that he was close to dying in a pool of someone else's blood was a lot to take in. He preferred to think of it as a nightmare he woke up from.

'Yeah, I guess…'

'C'mon, don't be all grouchy and enjoy yourself. It's really nice here and there are really nice people, too. Sure, they take a while to open up, but once they do you'll have best friends for life!'

'Friends…'

'Oh, c'mon Tai, I'm your friend aren't I?' she put on a softer expression, complete with 'puppy-dog' eyes.

'What, so Megumi's not?' Tai laughed.

'Oh, you've got _no_ idea…'

'Of what?'

'And now I'll show you your room,' Yuri said ignorantly, advancing into the tall building before Tai could stop her, forcing him to hurry after her with a suitcase. 'I heard from the headmistress that you got room #1124.'

Tai could only stare.

'What?'

'There's that many rooms here?'

'No – '11' is the floor and '24''s your room. Mine's #612.'

'Oh, sure. I knew that.'

'Really? You knew that?' she wasn't even trying to mask her scepticism. 'You know something else?'

'W-what?'

'There's a soccer club here. Only problem is, I'm captain.'

'Yeah, I don't buy that.'

'I'm not for sale.'

'Nice comeback, shorty.'

'Nice nickname, chibi.'

'Nice try, I'm taller than you.'

A sharp pain in his knee changed that, making him fall to it in pain. She had kicked him!

'Not anymore you're not,' Yuri cackled devilishly. 'It's mostly the hair anyway, chibi.'

'What happened to the new kid not being bullied on their first day?' Tai growled, rubbing at his knee to try and rid himself of the stabbing feeling that kept him from standing. 'Forget shorty, I'm calling you 'ugly' now.'

Her hand shot to her chest as though he had stabbed her in the heart, 'Little ol' me? Ugly? Tai, no wonder you didn't have a girlfriend for all those months.'

'Hey, shut up!' Tai could feel his face flush. 'I've had plenty of people interested!'

'Soccer coaches don't count,' she scoffed. 'Gross, actually. Don't touch me, I've heard that idiocy's contagious!'

'Sucks to be you then, ugly.'

She kicked him, this time in his good knee.

'Uncalled for!' he shouted at her, unable to stand up.

'Don't be such a wuss, chibi,' she shot back, offering a hand that she rescinded as soon as he reached for it. 'Stand on your own feet. That's how it's gonna be here.'

'What, am I going to have other bearded girls kicking me in the knees?'

This time he caught sight of the kick and blocked it with his arms. Feeling the power in it, Tai could almost believe that she was captain of a soccer team.

'I don't have a beard,' she said firmly.

'Defensive for someone who doesn't. Don't worry, I think it goes with the moustache.'

Again, he caught the kick before it did serious damage. He was actually beginning to enjoy teasing her in a strange fashion. It wasn't as though he could stand up at the moment anyway.

Whether she was seeing it as good fun he didn't know or care. Making her self-conscious was nothing compared to the sudden antics she had performed.

'Whatever,' she stuck her nose in the air. 'Get up and stop being so stupid, chibi.'

'Whatever you say, your highness.'

xxx

Hobbling, Tai pulled his suitcase from the elevator and followed Yuri dutifully, the girl giving a hateful silence as she led him down a corridor of doors on the eleventh floor. Each had a plaque with the room number, but apparently she was going to see him to his room herself.

She opened a door and waited from Tai to catch up, letting him inside his new home.

It was breathtaking.

It was smaller than his apartment, and there were only two doors to adjoining rooms, but it was still sizable for one person. There was a couch, a big-screen TV and a complimentary games console. Other than that, an entrance into a kitchen area was beside him and large windows gave him a view of the night sky and a few apartments below his in the building across the street.

'This is mine?' Tai couldn't believe it. 'I mean, all this, for me?'

'Yep,' the affronted girl gave no inkling of forgiveness.

'Look, I'm sorry about before,' Tai told her honestly. 'But you're the one who kneecapped me!'

'Yep.'

'Look, if I change it back to 'shorty' will you be okay?'

'Yep,' she echoed emptily, though some life returned to her eyes. 'Oh, right! I was meant to give you this too!'

Reaching into her skirt pocket, she retrieved a pricey-looking phone. It was beautiful, if he was honest. Steeling himself for some sort of joke, he took the phone for himself.

'Uh…'

'It's the headmistress's way of saying 'sorry you nearly died in a park', chibi.'

'Really?' Tai didn't fully buy that someone would go to such extremes, but then he remembered the incident and had second-thoughts. 'I guess that makes sense…' he mumbled, pocketing the phone.

'Great. You're uniform's in your bedroom and a cleaning lady comes by every few days to take care of it – while you were still sleeping, I called my club members and had them get you a soccer uniform.'

'Oh, thanks…' Tai muttered, but then his face was overcome by heat and colour, 'Hold on, how d'you know what size uniform I need?'

Yuri was quiet for a long few seconds, shrugging and looking elsewhere, 'Lucky guess?'

'What did you do to me?'

'Calm down Sally, I looked in your clothes pile at home and found your uniform,' she said with an almost-malicious smile. 'By the way, it's gross enough without week-old boxers being there. Just saying.'

'You're enjoying this!' Tai accused.

'Oh, you've got no idea. See you at school tomorrow! I've got stuff to do!'

And she closed the door, leaving Tai to regard his new home. Somehow, it felt more like a prison the longer he stared at it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Radiance Academy**

**Class Four**

xxx

Tai didn't even know when he'd fallen asleep, but he was slowly coming to. He was practically smothering himself by lying face-down into his pillow, his suitcase left in the corner of the room forgotten. Outside the bedroom's window, darkness had fallen and the lights of other apartments shone through it.

If it was so late, did he really need to bother waking up?

He could easily fall back to sleep, but there was something that urged him to pull himself off of the bed and to his feet.

'She said Kari's in… dorm two, I think…' he drowsily recounted to himself in the dark of the room, wondering where the light switch was. 'It's gotta be by the door…'

He found it, as he thought, by the door, pressing it. The light entered his eyes like an unwanted guest or invader, and it took him a few seconds to welcome it. Then he thought of something.

'_Did I lock the door_?' his thoughts spurned him to groggily leave the room into the dark living area, struggling to find his way to the door, though he eventually got there. '_Let's see… there it is._'

Once again, the light switch was not his best friend, but he adjusted even quicker that time and tested the doorknob. It was locked.

Did Yuri lock it, or was there some sort of mechanism to locking it?

There was a lock under the knob for a key, and he recalled another one on the outside. He quickly grasped the meaning of it – it was an electrical lock, but his key was needed to disable it either side.

But then that was the problem – what key?

Since he was locked inside, he would need to get advice. The phone he'd been given would have one for maintenance, wouldn't it?

It was a slim hope, but he was too tired to think straight. He retrieved the phone from his pocket and turned it on. A message appeared.

_You have (2) outstanding messages._

Hoping that it was Yuri telling him how to escape, he pressed 'open', bring the messages to the forefront.

'_From Yuri Tachibana,_

_Hey chibi, just wanted to tell you the key's on the counter. Kinda slipped my mind you'd wanna leave. Whoops :P_'

Tai knew better – she probably expected that he'd been awake for however many hours he was asleep, panicking about being locked in his new home. A worthy try, but no, it hadn't worked.

He moved on to the second message.

'_From Kari Kamiya,'_

Tai stopped reading there. His heart seemed to come to a standstill at the sight of the name.

'_Tai, I just heard! Ms Ohno said that you had an accident fighting a bully! I hope you're okay, but since you're coming here, why not come to my place? My friends and I are waiting.  
I've missed you._'

Tai felt warm inside at the message, even though she'd been told a lie, but this feeling abated just as quickly as it came – the message was three hours old. 'Oh dear' didn't do justice what he was thinking at that moment.

In a hasty panic, he grabbed the key from the counter, unlocked the door and locked it again outside, shoving the key and phone into his pocket. His first time anywhere near his sister in over a year and he fell asleep?

Shame and disgrace ran through him as quickly as he ran to the elevator, impatiently prodding the call button until it finally came. Rushing inside, he pressed the button for the ground floor and fidgeted until he got to the bottom floor at last, running at his fullest capability through the doors before they were fully open.

Yuri had indicated dorm two during the hurried tour, so he had a fresh memory of the return journey through the streets. But there was also some curfew, and judging by the dark he would say he had missed it. If he was caught before he'd even started he would be in a heap of trouble, so he ran, mindful of his surroundings all the way to dorm two.

Once inside, he headed over to the help desk, a tired-looking woman peering over her magazine at him behind the counter.

'Can I help you?'

'Yeah, I'm looking for my sister, Kari,' Tai said very fast. 'Do you know which room it is?'

'Well, yes, but the curfew has been on for an hour…'

'Please – look it up if you want, my name's Tai.'

At that, she lowered the magazine and looked at him attentively.

'I see – the headmistress said you might come here,' she said. 'Room #417. Don't make a habit out of this, Mr Kamiya. Curfew is important. Tell the small mob of kids up there the same.'

'Oh… I… thanks?' Tai headed off to the elevator, leaving the woman to her magazine. '_When'd I get so popular_?'

On the fourth floor, his eyes scanned the plaques: #415, #416 - #417!

Slowly, he knocked on the door, some definite mutterings coming from inside. Scarily, they all stopped at the sound he had made. Either that or they were all whispering.

Then the door opened.

'H-hi…' Tai smiled as best he could at his sister. At least, he thought it was his sister – she had grown and changed in his absence. 'Uh… Kari?'

Before he knew it, she had clamped her arms around him in a tight hug. His knees quaked underneath him. When had she ever been so strong?

'Tai! You're here!' she gleefully shouted, tightening her grip of him. 'You're actually here!'

'N-nice to s-see you too…' Tai squeaked as the air was being squeezed out of him. 'P-please let go… you're breaking my back…'

'Oh!' she recoiled and released him. 'Sorry Tai!'

'No, it's all good,' Tai lied, nursing his aching back. 'When'd you get the strength of a bear anyway, Kari? What happened to the crybaby I knew?' he smiled at her blush, 'C'mon, you know I'm kidding. I've missed you too, Kari.'

'Oh… that's… well, that…' she slowed, he enthusiasm mixed with something else, 'It doesn't matter! You're here!'

'Yeah I – KNOW!' Tai squeaked again like a stress toy as his sister crushed him with her hug. 'KARI, I'M HAPPY TO SEE YOU, BUT PLEASE DON'T BREAK ME IN HALF! I ONLY JUST GOT HERE!'

But this time she didn't release. Tai wondered if he would pass out or die first as a blonde boy came into sight behind her.

'Is this your brother, Kari?' he asked her gently.

'Yes, he's here!' she said into Tai's chest, looking up only to add sourly, 'Finally.'

'I'm sorry!' Tai felt his consciousness fading as though he were in some comedy. 'I was locked in my room – the key wasn't easy to find!'

'Oh, that?' the blonde laughed. 'That's a trick the tour guides play when you annoy them. Let me guess, it was Yuri, right?'

'Yeah…' Tai's spirit almost left him with this one word. 'K-Kari… c-can't… breathe…'

Tai felt foam at his mouth, his head bobbing back lifelessly in his sister's grip. He didn't understand it, but he could almost hear the comical sound of an anime character almost dying. It had always made him laugh, but this wasn't funny.

xxx

'Hey, I think he's coming to!'

'Kari, you can't do this. What did we tell you about learning your limits?'

'I-I'm sorry… I was just…'

'We're not mad, Kari. You're too cute to be mad at. Can't make any promises about Kamiya Sr here though…'

'I don't believe it, he's healing already! Look, he's waking up!'

Tai's head pounded with a sudden rush of blood, waking him from what he had feared a wakeless slumber. Colours swam before him, but soon settled on many faces looking down on him. One was Kari's, but the others were a mystery, eyeing him like some museum piece.

'K-Kari…' his throat was dry.

'Y-yes?'

'Don't… don't do that again… if it's about the bear-thing, I'm sorry…'

'Oh, n-no!' his sister's face took on several shades of red in a few short seconds. 'I loved the bear! Really!'

'She goes to bed with it,' a girl with long lavender hair and thick glasses smirked. 'I wondered who finally got lucky, but her own brother… scandalous.'

'No, it's not like that Yolei!'

'_Sure _it's not,' the girl sung while Tai tried to sit up on the couch he was lying on. 'Sorry about that… Kari's not the gentle type. I think your dad fell to that one first, so don't feel too bad.'

'Yolei!'

'What?' she smiled. 'Fair warnings are needed for this sort of thing!'

'Ugh…' Tai felt like he had a severe case of seasickness, his head filled with fog and confusion. 'My head's killing me…'

'Your blood is beginning to flow normally again now that you're not being crushed,' a kid with short red hair said. 'I'm amazed, you're dad needed to go to the nurse's office but you're healing all by yourself.'

'Apparently it's what I do,' Tai drawled, hating that his headache wouldn't go away faster. 'So, who're you guys?'

'Yolei,' the lavender-haired girl smiled. 'It's nice to meet you.'

'My name is Izzy. Depending on your class, we might have the same lessons.'

'Same here – name's Matt by the way,' a blonde kid with his arm around a red-haired girl said. 'This is Sora.'

'Thanks for letting me say 'hi', Matt.'

'S-sorry.'

'It's fine. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Tai.'

'I'm Cody.'

'Davis – Yuri said you'll be with us on the soccer team. That right TK?'

'Yeah,' the blonde kid from earlier said. 'I'm Matt's brother, by the way.'

Tai stared around at the faces, feeling the same sense of déjà vu he'd gotten with Megumi and Yuri. But these faces were far easier to place.

'Didn't… didn't I go to summer camp with some of you?'

'Yeah! You remember that?' TK sounded ecstatic at the news. 'Those were great times, weren't they? Too bad that we all came here… I was sad that I couldn't go to the camp anymore, but since we're all here now-'

'All?' Tai definitely remembered two more faces. 'What about Joe and Mimi? You're telling me they're here too?'

'Yeah,' TK's smile slackened a little. 'Joe's always got student council stuff though and Mimi is… well, she's Mimi…' he shrugged, 'Can't say much more than that…'

'When we heard you were coming, we thought of having a big reunion,' Sora told him, looking to Matt sadly. 'But… well, Joe's always busy with something, but Mimi's changed. She came here before me, but she's always been different. She's kinda bossy.'

'I've heard,' Tai adjusted so that he was sat naturally on the couch, nursing his head. 'Wasn't she always a bit of a pain, though? She hated getting dirty and she hated me for that one time I kicked the ball into a tree…'

'Sorry – how does that-?'

'It bounced back and hit her in the face,' he surmised, rousing a chuckle from the boy called Davis.

'Oh – that explains it, then,' Sora said. 'She seemed kinda angry when I asked. Guess I know why.'

'But seriously, I didn't think I'd see any of you – but you're all here?' Tai raised an eyebrow. 'That's nuts.'

'Why question what's right in front of you?' Matt input wisely. 'Think about it, it doesn't really matter now, it's happened. Try and be happy. Kari always said that you looked forward to camp and now we're going to be in school together.'

'I guess,' Tai accepted, his headache easing up slightly. 'I – um… I'm not gonna have Mimi in class, am I?'

'That depends on your class,' Izzy told him. 'Class III, Class II and Class I. Davis and Minori are the only ones in Class I, the rest of us are Class II.'

'Who's-?'

'Don't tell him,' Davis growled, folding his arms childishly. 'Last thing I need's Kari's brother making fun of me at soccer practice with TK.'

'Why would I do that?'

'Because Davis's fiancée will start asking you what Davis would like for his birthday and stuff like that,' TK snickered.

'Hey!'

'You have a _fiancée_?'

'I…' Davis faltered under Tai's judgemental look. 'I didn't choose her, alright? My mom and dad did! That's all! I'm still a free man!'

'Not according to her,' Matt joined in. 'She asked me to be a witness to your wedding once.'

'When was-?'

'When you were asleep,' Matt shrugged. 'I told her I didn't want to see your sty and she left it at that. Besides, she worked out that for it to be legal you need to sign it while you're awake.'

'It's not my fault!' Davis yelled in embarrassment, hurting Tai's ears. 'If I knew what her power was I wouldn't have to avoid her! D'you know what it's like to tell someone who can blow you up you're not interested?'

'Not really,' Matt said, looking elsewhere.

'You should feel my pain! Jun's still doing it to you too, right?'

The blonde flinched, looking as though he had been mortally wounded. His girlfriend, Sora, went on to whisper encouragement to him, telling him it was okay. He'd gone white as a sheet of paper. Poor guy. Tai could see terror in his eyes.

'So – Kari!' Tai looked back to his sister, his happiness mixed with caution of another hug. 'I'm gonna hug you now. Don't try and break my back, okay?'

'Okay,' she nodded glumly, accepting as he wrapped his arms around her. It was baffling and humbling for him to know now that she had gone through a growth spurt. He could tell she was taller, and in a way it made him proud as could be.

But the second he felt pressure, he pulled away, looking at her with a genuine smile.

'I've missed you. Mom and dad never told me about you being here, so… how've you been?'

'Great!' she chirped, sitting next to him. 'I made a lot of friends! They all knew my surname, so they came to me!'

'Really?' he looked around the group, 'Thanks, guys… really, I've been worried since Kari's a dope but-'

'Hey!'

'What? I'm not the one who walked into a tree!' Tai chuckled with the others, his sister turning an angry red.

'I was five and you said that trees didn't hurt!' she argued. 'You didn't even say that you were sorry!'

'With what mom did to me, I didn't need to,' Tai shuddered at the memory of that picnic in the park. 'I thought I was toast…'

'Oh, come on Tai…'

'I'm serious!' Tai could tell that the chuckling group of friends didn't buy it. 'It's like she could lift a truck if she wanted! She's way stronger than dad…'

'That's the sort of thing you see in anime,' Matt said. 'Though dad never messed with mom… maybe it's true that women are scary…'

'Excuse me?' Sora, Yolei and Kari all echoed the female argument.

'N-nothing!' Matt yelped, essentially proving his point in defeat. 'Anyway, we've been sat up here for three hours waiting to surprise you. I thought you'd ditched but… getting locked inside is pretty lame, man.'

'Shut up, pretty-boy,' Tai snapped jokingly, remembering the name he'd stuck Matt with at summer camp. 'But yeah, I see what you mean… guess we'd better do this tomorrow now…'

'What are you talking about?' he said. 'Curfew's on, so we have to stay here now. Anyone outside goes to the student council.'

'And that means Mimi,' Sora informed, 'she's the treasurer, so she's the one who handles funding for clubs. Get on her bad side and you'll have to do soccer with water balloons or something.'

Tai didn't doubt it, 'I did break her nose by accident… I wouldn't put it past her, I mean, she kinda got blood on her favourite dress…'

'That might be one reason,' Sora wagged a finger at him, 'I say you should apologise to her. At least then she won't hate you as much.'

'C'mon, it was when I was ten and she was nine – that's six to seven years right there! Nobody holds a grudge that long!'

'Mimi does,' Izzy stated flatly.

Tai deadpanned at the redhead, 'Always a ray of sunshine, aren't you?'

'I haven't changed that much, so why should Mimi?'

'Yeah but Izzy, at camp you could play soccer once we stole your computer!' Tai pointed out. 'Mimi tried but she was bad! I always got the feeling she thought I was bullying her…'

'Well, no offence, but you were kind of a jerk,' Sora said humorously to the group, drawing a laugh at his expense.

'Whatever. So, what're we doing if we can't go outside?'

'You can always call shotgun on the floor,' Davis said to him, smirking. 'Yolei's like a bull – she's ugly and she takes up a lot of space.'

'Hey!' Yolei punched Davis in the arm. 'Not in front of the new guy!'

'Shut up and go back to the council, would you?' Davis groaned, rubbing his arm and glaring. 'You can stalk Ken there and I can have the couch to sleep on. Win-win.'

'Davis, shut up!'

'No.'

'Fine!' Yolei spat, pulling a phone from her skirt pocket and dialling a number. 'At least I know what building I'm in you jerk!'

'Building you're-?' Davis blanched, 'Wait… no way…'

'What's going on?' Tai looked to his beaming sister, feeling like he had been dropped into the cast of some TV show while Yolei whispered into the receiver. 'Kari? TK? Anybody wanna fill me in?'

'Trust me, it's better to watch,' TK's voice was challenged by silent guffawing at his friend's dismay.

What was going on?

Yolei snapped her phone shut and gave a triumphant look at Davis, who had the likeness of a deer caught in headlights. His disposition, too, changed.

'What've you done?' he demanded weakly.

'Nothing much,' Yolei said, a sharp rapping on the door following. 'But it could maybe be something.'

Tai had no idea what was going on. By the looks of his sister and her friends, tantamount to some devious collusion, he guessed they knew. Kari dutifully went to answer the door, a key entering a lock sounding out with a strange kinship to a death's knell. He could hear Davis making funny panicked noises as the door opened out-of-sight.

'Hi Minori!' Kari sounded gleeful. 'Hm? Oh, Davis is over there.'

'Kari, please don't-!'

Tai couldn't believe his eyes – what looked like a serpentine of thin silver flashed before him, wrapping around Davis's wrist. It was handcuff, linked to a long chain.

'Minori, please don't!'

But Davis's pleas fell on deaf ears as he was pulled along the floor, writhing and struggling against some unseen force. Tai was scared to so much as move while everyone else smiled as though it were the most natural thing they'd ever seen. After closing the door, Kari came back with a warm look on her face.

'W-what was that?' Tai was trembling from the sight – part of him found it funny, but the other part didn't. 'What'd you do?'

'It's his own fault,' Yolei stuck her nose into the air, looking victorious. 'Minori's a friend of mine. Davis should know better than to mess with his fiancée's friend.'

'Yeah… well…' Tai tried to calm himself down from what he had just seen. 'S-so… where has Minori taken him?'

'To her room.'

'Lair,' Matt coughed.

'Dungeon,' TK translated.

'Well of souls,' the Cody kid added emotionlessly.

'Come on guys, she's not that bad.'

'Yolei, she just dragged our friend away with a chain,' Izzy gave her a look. 'How does that make her "not bad"? The denotations of 'kidnap' are still the same, aren't they?'

'Izzy, not now! Davis was making fun of me!'

'So you threw him to the devil herself?' Matt laughed.

'It was a bit of an overreaction,' Sora noted, laughing with her apparent boyfriend.

'Tai, you have to believe me,' Kari said with a snicker, 'Minori makes every day funny. You would like her, I know you would!'

'Why's that?'

'You both stood up to bullies before coming here!' his sister smiled innocently, something he couldn't manage to reciprocate. 'What's the matter?'

'Oh… I – uh… well, I'm tired. Everything's weird now.'

'You should sleep then,' Kari said gently, pointing at the door to a bedroom in offering, 'do you want to sleep on the bed?'

'No,' he said firmly. 'I'll sleep on the floor if there's a curfew. It's my fault I got locked in my own place anyway. I called Yuri ugly.'

Kari's smile turned into a frown, 'Tai, you shouldn't do that!'

'She kicked me in the knee!' Tai complained. 'And she's started calling me 'chibi' because of it!'

'"Chibi"?'

'It pretty much means 'short-stuff',' TK elucidated.

'But Tai's not short…' she cocked her head to the side, seeming genuinely confused.

An odd quirk, but Tai couldn't help but smile at the familiar innocence his sister always showed, regardless of where she was or who she was stood in front.

Tai ruffled her short hair, smirking.

'I think we'll leave it to your imagination, Kari,' he said, amused. 'But for now we'd better get some shut-eye. School's tomorrow, right?'

'Well, it is Monday,' Matt added.

'Didn't ask you, pretty-boy,' Tai snapped back, bringing everyone to laughter. 'Still, we'd best get some shut eye…'


End file.
